The murder of Ken Saro-Wiwa

Ken Wiwa heard of his father's execution in November 1995 while he was in New Zealand, as part of his campaign against the Nigerian government's planned judicial murder of his father and eight other Ogoni leaders. The Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting was due to be held in Auckland the following week. At the time of his death Saro-Wiwa was the leader of the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP), which sought to challenge the situation whereby a community which had contributed to the exchequer an estimated $30 billion in oil revenue found itself without basic amenities, living in a wretched environment, and being daily assaulted by oil exploration. He had accused Shell Oil company, which had a very close relationship with the Nigerian government, of 'waging an ecological war against the Ogoni'. After the executions, Nigeria was roundly condemned by international leaders, as was Shell itself.